Oneness

Joseph P. Kauffman
The moment a thought arises, simply acknowledge it,
smile to it, and let it go. Return to your natural state of
being: awareness.
The longer you sit in this state of mental calmness and
alertness, the stronger this state will become. Eventually
the habit to remain grounded in this state will form,
causing this to be your natural state.
Your thoughts are not going to disappear; they have an
entire lifetime of momentum which causes them to arise
out of habit, but the more you replace thought with
awareness, the more capacity you have for being present
without thought interfering, and naturally you will think
less and less. And when thoughts do arise, they do not
consume you. You realize they are just thoughts and you
do not have to take them seriously.
Thought is a product of the past. It is made up of
information and memory, functioning solely by relating the
moment to what has already been recorded by the brain.
But life is new, it is fluid, moving, always changing. It
cannot be understood with reference to the old. It can only
be experienced as it exists now.
Look at the rivers and streams of the earth, they flow
with whatever crosses their path. They do not resist their
natural flow. Why is it that we insist on making life
difficult? Why can we not flow with life and live naturally
in each moment? Why must we resist life, and cause our
own suffering in the process?
If you are suffering emotionally, it is because you are
resisting the flow of life. You are clinging to your thoughts
about a person, object, or situation. You are allowing your
own mind to make you suffer.
Your failure to let go of a situation is simply your
failure to let go of your thoughts. You are still holding on
because you want to know more, you want closure, an
explanation, an apology, or whatever the case might be.
But is this way of thinking making you happy? No. it is the
reason you are unhappy.
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